December 17, 2011

Out Takes

For each photo that ends up here on Fresh Picked, anywhere from 50 to 100 don't. I'm not exaggerating either. I can whip through 300 shots in less than an hour. No joke. My camera will attest to this. I literally burned out the motor in October, mid-shot. The shutter clicked open and that was that. I digress.

Point being that when I did the photo shoot for our annual holiday card, there were hundreds of photos taken. Only one made it into the mailbox. This one:

There were a few more I found worth sharing. Like this one.

Channing's fake laugh. It's completely my fault he does this for the camera. Most of the time, the fake laugh gets so silly it turns into a real laugh and therefore a photo of genuine emotion. Not always.

The idea behind the holiday card photo was to light Channing up like a Christmas tree. It's not so easy when he's either a) holding the string of lights in front of his face or

b) unplugging them from the wall thus losing the lighting effect. (In hindsight, I would have used clear lights. I'm new to this photography thing. Many, many mistakes are being made along the way. I'm learning from them all.)

He paused briefly during the posing to pick his nose. He probably should have warned me first as I kept shooting away until I realized what he was doing. Booger properly removed by myself and a tissue, we started in again.

Then there was the point where Channing was just done. He was unbelievably cooperative and directed the shoot for the most part. He wanted to start in Sophie's room. Then he wanted his picture taken in the dining room. From there, we had to move to the hallway. He wanted to sit. He wanted to stand. He wanted to...I'm sure you get the idea. Suddenly, he was done. He collapsed right where he was on the floor and said, 'No more'.

Well momentarily. From the floor he noticed the sheet I'd been using as a light reflector. Director Channing then commanded me to take his picture while hiding under the sheet.